~A place to showcase my growth~
Jared Freeman's Digital Portfolio
Unit III: To Kill a Mockingbird
How can we promote social justice?
Social justice or more importantly lack of social justice is something that has been around as long as any historian has recorded. By definition social justice is "Justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society." There is a desperate need of an increase in social justice today because we have things like poverty, racism, slavery, etc. Anything that we can do including standing up for what is right, giving to charity to even just being more educated about this issue can, in turn, hopefully make a difference in changing society to make it an even better place to live in.
CNN Heroes Campaign Pomotional Extravaganza!
If you were not aware, every year CNN does this television program where they find ten incredible individuals that in some way are making the world a better place and then they nominate them as one of the "Top 10 CNN Heroes of the Year." Then there is this contest where people vote for one of the 10 people and whom ever wins gets a cash prize and support for their organization. So just recently I was given the assignment to choose one of the nominees and then find a way to promote them. Click the link down below to go to the CNN website to gain much more information on all of the nominees!
I ended up choosing Pen Farthing. He is an army veteran and chose to try and rescue stray dogs and cats. More specifically he would rescue certain dogs or cats that soldiers had formed relationships with oversees, and then he would bring them back to the US and reunite them with their owner. He now has expanded his operation to in general try to help out stray animals. To see a more in depth description of what his organization does every day click on the link below.
So down below this you will find the video that I created about Pen and his cause. I hope you enjoy it!
Though creating the product was just the first step. The real point of the project was to see how we could promote our hero through the product that we made. I tried to accomplish this by doing three things that all related to sharing the video in different ways in order to expose it to as many people as possible.
1st
I Posted the video on Youtube. I choose to do this so that my video could be accessed very easily throughout all parts of the country ... and even the world. I also found out that it made it very easy to know how successful I was in promoting the video.
As you can see from the above arrows, through the views and likes/dislikes feature on YouTube was very helpful and informative so I could again if I was doing a good job in promoting Pen Farthing.
I even did some more searching and came across the analytics behind my video that I had posted. And what I found truly surprised me.
This may have been due to the other 2 things that I did to promote the video
1) posted on youtube
Anilytics, countries, views, pictures
2) sent to family
pic email
3) posted it on facebook
his responce
4) he won!!!
This listing shows where all of the views on my video were from. It shows specifically how many views came from each country, along with the estimated number of minutes spent watching the video and the average view durration. When I first saw this I was completely shocked in how my video has touched this many people all over the world. It is so crazy and has taught me to never underestimate the impact that I can have.
I then produced the data into a graph that shows which countries contributed most of the views.
I also found this equally as interesting becasue it made sense for some counties to have viewed the video like the US becuase that was where the video was published, UK becuase that's where he's from, and even Afghanistan seemed to make sense becuase that is where he does most of his work, but for other countries it still stumps me to this day. I am very curious in how people from Indonesia or Sweden or even United Arab Emirates would have come across my video. Again this could be due to the power of the internet, word of mouth or more likely as a result of the next two ways that I tried to promote the video.
2nd:
I send out a description of the project, a link to my video on YouTube and a link to where to vote on the CNN website to my entire family. You can see a copy of the email that I sent down below.
I belive this was a successful strategy becuase this not only led to more votes for Pen Farthing from my family, but also there is the chance that they mentioned his name or shared the link to the video with their friends. Again I have learned to never underestimate the power of word of mouth. This could explain how someone in Japan could have been exposed to my video even though I might not have directly sent it to them. This graphic that I made down below shows how one person end up having a bigger impact than tthey would have realized.
3rd:
This next way the my video was promoted was not a part of my original plan, but it ended up making a big impact. My dad posted the video on Pen Farthing's Facebook Page as well as his. And then he ended up responding to the video.
This again surprised me that Pen Farthing would have seen my video! I wasn't thinking about how much social media can be a great platform to share a video and to promote a cause. This might explain how people of so many countries could have been exposed to my video. As he said above "I do hope you don't mind me sharing this."
Overall I feel as though I did a pretty good job promoting Pen Farthing and his cause by using many different strategies to share the video that I made. I think what I did might have made a difference becuase he ended up winning CNN hero of the year! If you want to see the interview with him click this link below!
To Kill a Mockingbird? ... What Does That Mean? ... Should you do it?
One of the major symbols in the book To Kill a Mockingbird is . . . . a Mockingbird! You might think, well that's pretty obvious but most people wouldn't understand that this bird represents a lot more. This is made apparent through the events that take place in Maycomb county.
Before you can understand this deeper symbol you have to know what a mockingbird is. Below is some background information on mockingbirds...
Mockingbirds are medium sized birds that live primarily in North America. They have grayish colored feathers and like to perch in trees or anywhere high above the ground. They are more commonly known as song birds. They love to sing day and night and have the ability to pick up many different songs in their lifetime. They have unfortunately been hunted and sold for their gift, but have been able to bounce back and are pretty common nowadays.
To go to the website where this information came from click the link below!
Next let's look at some quotes from the book that talk about mockingbirds:
“Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird.”
"Well, it'd be sort of like shootin' a mockingbird, wouldn't it?"
"Your father's right," she said. "Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don't eat up people's gardens, don't nest in corncribs, they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird."
"He likened Tom's death to the senseless slaughter of songbirds by hunters and children ... "
One recurring theme in all of this is the idea of how forbidden it is to "kill a mockingbird". Also the quotes refer to this bird as an innocent being, "they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us." In the book it could be symbolizing a person or character who could be refered to as someone who is this innocent person who does not derserve trouble to be brought down upon them. In my opinion some "mockingbirds" in the book are Tom Robinson and Boo Radley:
1) Tom Robinson
Tom Robinson is a Mockingbird becuase he was never in a frame of mind to hurt somebody. He was just somebody who unfortunately could be blamed and accepted as the perpetrator without question. He was minding his own life with a family and was never someone who would do anything like for what he was accused of. We can compare him to a Mockingbird becuase they are both not the type to pick a fight and are kind creatures in society. It is a shame to kill Tom Robinson like they did becuase the reason why he was put in jail in the first place was all a lie.
2) Boo [Anthur] Radley
Boo Radley is a Mockingbird becuase he was a minuderstood figure that not many people knew the truth about. Everyone had their own idea of what he was like. This mean, nasty, vicious person who was a detriment to society. He is this person who has, up until this point, not done anything for society and in return society did nothing to help him out. Now when this rare event occurs when he saves these children Heck Tate couldn't bring himself to tell the truth and charge Boo with the murder of Bow Ewell. Why is that? Probably because i made up for all that Maycomb has done to Boo already by turning him into this legand that all kids fear.
All of this is shown in the book through the trial, the murder, the attack to even the time period when the book is set. As always it contibutes to this idea of social justice because it is just wrong to accuse the person who saved the day or is being mistreated by society. We have to promote social justice, but sometimes we have to weigh morals and our own best judgement in difficult situations. Killing a mockingbird may be the fair thing to do but it is not always promoting social justice. Instead it is taking the wrong approach when really we should be trying to defend the defenseless.
How I Applied my Knowledge of Social Justice to To Kill a Mockingbird...
While our class read the book To Kill a Mockingbird, periodically we would have to answer some questions that would help us explore a deeper meaning of the book. The questions focused on social justice, which is the major idea behind the unit question, and were responded to in what were called journals. I have inserted all three of my responses down below with the question that I answered before the paragraphs.
Journal #1: How does the world we live in both encourage and discourage us to be social justice leaders?
Social Justice is a very complicated issue that will never completely be resolved. In the world there are many factors that encourage us to be social justice leaders. This force that drives us to be active in way of promoting social justice is how we break down the situation. More specifically if we feel that we relate to this issue by means of knowledge or even if this same problem is happening with you could act as an incentive to be a leader on that issue. For example, hypothetically if there is a rule in a country that a certain group of people from a specific country don’t have the same equal rights as the rest, and you too are from that country then you will most likely want to promote social justice in that area because you can connect to the unfairness and you can almost sympathize with the struggle.
Just as some factors in the world in which we live in encourage us to be social justice leaders, there are equally if not a greater amount of things tend to discourage us to be social justice leaders. Often times things like laws or preconceived notions can prevent one from promoting social justice or a new way of thinking to back that up. For example, people had trouble and still have trouble trying to get change in regards to unfairness in society that relates to a certain quality that you may possess. This is mainly because of the laws that have been put into place. They are very hard to change especially in a time were society is used to certain norms and ways of thinking. An example of this, where social justice is discouraged could be shown through the book To Kill a Mockingbird written by Harper Lee. Where one could describe Maycomb as a place where “people [move] slowly…” and where they often …[take] their time about everything” (Lee 6). People in Maycomb have been there most of their lives and are used to how things go. They are used to their usual ways of thinking and would take a lot to change them. Maycomb has these pre-conceptualized ideas that would act as a means to discourage one to be a social justice leader in that area. Overall I have noticed that the one factor that seems to cause successful change in social justice or make an issue not succeed is if there is a strong person to lead the issue. Think about all major changes that have been – for the better or worse – concerning promotion of social justice or discouragement of social justice have been led by a powerful, liked and influential person. And in todays world we need more people like that to support and back up social justice issues that are making us less and less a place that we can call the land of the free.
To gain access to the full document click the icon below to the right!
Journal #2: Which social justice leaders are most admirable? Why?
When we think about social justice leaders from the past and the present we often, unfortunately, only remember the ones whom we admire most. But how do we classify a social justice hero admirable? We often categorize social justice leaders according to traits that they have like courageousness, selflessness, determination and bravery. An example of someone who is an admirable social justice leader from the past is Rosa Parks. She stood up for what she believed in when she did not sit in the spot designated to her on the bus refused to give up her seat for a white man. She is an admirable social justice leader because she persevered through the period of time after this when she was punished for her actions. She didn’t give up and render the issue of discrimination a permanent ideal that would remain constant forever. Instead she continued to fight for change after she got out of jail. A great example of a social justice leader from today is Ned Norton. He is promoting social justice by providing second chances to people with disabilities and giving them opportunities to strengthen their bodies. He is helping them out and did not give up on these people just because of their condition. He is an admirable social justice leader because he is being very considerate and caring towards the individuals and I appreciate him talking his time to help these people when others would not.
In addition the theme of social justice is very prominent in the book To Kill a Mockingbird written by Harper Lee. The book takes place in a time where the social justice is questionable at best and one character in particular, Atticus Finch, is promoting social justice. He is doing something that is going against the norms of society by defending an African American in a court case. He is struck with the challenge of pleasing his own ideals and in the process gets rejected by society. One day he and Scout have a conversation about the case and why he defending the person that everyone else is rooting against, and he tells her that “[he] couldn’t go to church and worship God if [he] didn’t try and help [Tom Robinson]” (Lee 120). Atticus is choosing not to side with society and to follow what he feels is right. Again this is a quality that makes him an admirable social justice leader is because he is defending the defenseless. Overall a lot of people can be brave, courageous and can have all of these traits that we associate with social justice leaders, but only a few stand out. Anybody can dislike an ideal in society and wish upon change to this world but we remember and admire the ones who stand up and have the courage to try to do something about it.
To gain access to the full document click the icon below to the right!
Journal #3: To what extent is it our responsibility to make the world more socially just?
We always remember the admirable social justice leaders from the past and present. But really it started with this person, not very well known at the time, taking upon himself or herself to promote social justice. This brings up a very tough question: “Is it each individual citizens’ responsibility to make the world more socially just? Often there are two sides to this debate that we can explore.
One side to the argument is that it is not everyone’s responsibility to always look for that way to make the world more socially just. They say that you should not do something that could cause harm to yourself. Or that person may have the attitude of “Well, I should not have to because I am not smart, or have to ability to make a big impact.” They feel like they are not important and that they should just let other people do it for them. Examples of this kind of person in everyday situation are bystanders. On the other side people say that it is absolutely your responsibility to stand up and to make the world a more socially just place. If you want change then you cannot just wait around for someone else to do something about it. This is a recurring motto for some of the social justice leaders from the past. People like Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks and Abraham Lincoln thought that it was their responsibility to make the first step towards change. And I could not agree more.
I find myself on the side of the argument that says that it is your responsibility. Just think about it if you hesitate to make the first initiative than who is to say that social justices issues will never change. An example of a person that has this same set of ideals is Atticus from To Kill a Mockingbird written by Harper Lee. He is a lawyer in Maycomb that is faced with a very tough decision. Should he defend the African American, Tim Robinson, in disproving the charges brought upon him even though the whole worlds seem to be against him? He chooses yes because he feels that it is his responsibility to stand up for this man when everyone else will not. He feels like it is his responsibility to try and defend him in the case even though he may not win. He tells Scout that even though “… we were licked a hundred years before [it] started is no reason for us not to try to win” (Lee 87). He is conveying that simply because he may not make a big impact or succeed is no excuse to not take it upon him self to try and change the way things are. Thinking in this sort of way is a quality that defines oneself as different from another.
To gain access to the full document click the icon below to the right!
These writing prompts got me thinking about social justice in a different more applicable way becuase I was forced to really think about decisions and how I would react to these situations in real life. I was able to reflect upon what has been done regarding social justice in the past, compare it to what is being done in the present and plan for what should be done in future.
How Harper Lee's Life Directly Influenced To Kill a Mockingbird:
In the book To Kill a Mockingbird there are many simliarities between aspects of the book and aspects to Harper Lee's life. I found an article that explores this in more detail it breaks it down by cateogories like "Family", "Friends" and more. I then used that information and made inferences on which details resulted from those things. I will show some of these things down below in the flow chart that I created to visualize this! I have organized the chart so that you can see the specific events for Harper Lee's life and which aspects of the book, I think, came from that event.
Harper Lee's Life
TKAM
Setting
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Had Harper Lee lived in a small town in Alabama
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The society that she lived in was caught up in the Civil Rights Movement
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The story takes place in a town in Alabama
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Maycomb is place effected by the discrimination issues of the time period
Friends
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Has best friend is named Truman Capote
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She helped out a lot in his life
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He also lived next door to her
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Scout has abest friend named Dill
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Scout and Dill played together every summer
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Dill moved in to her house
Personality
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She herself was a tomboy as well as her children
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Harper Lee had alot of "fight" in her
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She lost her mother in her 20's
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Scout also acts like a tomboy
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Scout has a feisty personality and picks fights
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Scout lost her mother at a young age
Family
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She has an older brother
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Her father was a lawyer who defended black men
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Her mother's maiden name was Finch
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Scout has older brother namd Jem
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Atticus (Scout's father) defended Tom Robinson
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Her last name is Finch
Even social justice played a part in impacting the content of the book. By Harper Lee publishing this book that had a major focus on social justice issues in a time where America was experiencing some major changes was not on accident. She was promoting social justice by getting people to think about this issue in a different, more applicable way. This book became very popular and must have resinated with lots of people.
Some of the information in the table came from this article down below. Click the link to go to the website that has all of this very interesting information behind the influencing factors that led to the creation of the book that we all love.
A Class Divided ... full of prejudice third graders.
This was an assignment that we did stemmed from a film about an expirement that a teacher in a small town in Iowa did involving turning her own students agaist eachother. She gave them a lesson on discrimination but not in the most traditional way. She tested her students impressionability and divided them into two groups: the brown-eyed people and the blue-eyed people. On one of the two days she would make one of the groups feel inferior to the other. By the end of the two days all of the students felt what it was like to be hated, discriminated upon and ostracized from the place that they live in. She then used this opportunity to compare this to the real racisim and prejudice going on at that time. Sucessfully these students had a better view of life and didn't go around being some of the disrespectful people of that time.
Bellow is the link to a more in depth summary of this unique experiment!
Here is the actual assignment that I completed...
Part I ~ Pre-Viewing Introduction:
Fill in these defintions to gain a better inderstanding of topics represented in the video:
Stereotype – An overgeneralization about a group based off of similar characteristics.
Prejudice – An attitude towards the members of a group based solely on their memberships in that group (can be positive or negative).
Discrimination – The ACT of treating people differently based on our stereotypes and prejudices.
Part II ~ Observations While Viewing:
Write down at least ten things that you hear the children say that are stereotypes (S), discriminatory (D), or prejudicial (P). Then label each.
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"Brown eyed people won't get anywhere in the world. " (S)
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"Blue eyed people are better than brown eyed people." (P)
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"Blue eyed people get 5 extra minutes of recess." (P)
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"Brown eyed people can not play with blue eyed people." (P)
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"Brown eyed people have to wear a special peice of clothing to make them stand out." (D)
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"Brown eyed people can’t get seconds durring lunch." (D)
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"Brown eyed people will get punished with a ruler". (D)
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"Blue eyed people can’t play on the playground equipment." (D)
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"Brown eyed people are better the blue eyed people and smarter too." (P)
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"Brown eyed people learn faster than blue eyed people." (S)
Part III ~ Concluding Analysis:
Free write on any one of the following three prompts. The three choices are down below:
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What did you learn?
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What scene or scenes do you think you’ll still remember a month from now and why those scenes?
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How did any part of the film s surprise you? Would someone of a different race, ethnicity, or religion also find it surprising?
I chose, "What scene or scenes do you think you’ll still remember a month from now and why those scenes?"
The scene in the short film that surprised me and one that I will remember is when she figured that the kids’ performance was being impacted based on how they were being treated. The kids who were being told that they were better than the other group did better on learning the words. While the kids who were being put down all day did worse and took longer when learning the new words. I will remember this because this is very interesting how a kids performance can be so directly influenced by a days lesson from their teacher. This shows how much a certain mentality can distract children.
Click the link to see the video series that captured this truly facinating impact on these childrens lives!
This connects to social justice and the unit question because what that teacher did was a form of promoting social justice. She was exposing this major issue in society to these children who will have to grow up in that enviorment. She is turning them into people who could spread their better knowledge to others and can lead to chage or just less racism and hatred towards African Americans.
To download the full document from the "Class Divided" assignment click the icon to the right!